02 September 2014

Since I'll be shipping this out to get it to redmec on or about 9/9 I
have a little more time with it and will do another TR prior to
shipping.

Before taking the knife afield I did watch this video that Iz did on the 28 some time ago.

The video is both a collection of stills as well as some live action
work with the knife. I was very surprised at how well it handled. As Iz
mentioned in his video the biggest challenge to baton work is the
relatively short blade, however I was able to work with it by selecting
the right diameter material.

I did on several occasions choke up on the blade, using the choil. I
found that making shavings was very productive by choking up and using a
two finger pinch on the tip. You'll see the results of that in the
video as I sat in a rainy camp and did fire prep for the following
morning's fire. Shavings are possible without this technique but I found
it more productive to use it.

I'm usually not a fan of this hard of a steel, or stainless for that
matter but once I laid a really good edge on it I actually really like
it! The stainless was also handy because it rained all three days and
normally any of my other 1095s, 01s etc would all have rust spots
forming on them, especially in a wet leather sheath. The 28 is still
spotless and completely rust free.

After doing the baton work on the pine there were a few spots from the
sap as some of it wasn't completely dry, these rubbed out with relative
ease.

Speaking of baton work, since everything was absolutely soaking wet
every fire had to be a splitwood fire. As stated the only challenge was
blade length. When you combine this knife with a Bahco type folding saw
you have a very competent pair for wood processing. After a couple
sessions I became more confident in this little blade, I wouldn't
hesitate to bet on this knife!

The knife is not good for firesteel use, no squared spine and the
jimping will really rip a steel to pieces. For that reason I wouldn't
plan on using it with a typical ferrocerium rod. Happily that wasn't
necessary since the H60 accompanied the knife.

I have a H60 of my own and have used it prior quite a bit. I passed it
along to second son and he uses it all the time now. The only reason I
did that was because of its size and weight relative to my preferred
smaller rod. Because 2 out of 5 trees in my AO are birch I have more
than ample supply of birch bark and thus don't need the paduk on the
H60. I also have the handle-less version of the H60 as a result. The
video shows two fire making sessions with the H60 and I was really happy
to have that tool along. It was so wet even birch bark didn't want to
burn easily and the H60 made it a little easier to get fire going. The
paduk shavings combined with some magnesium shavings was the cat's meow
when it came to getting flame hot enough to ignite the fire prep.

There will be another couple posts including one more TR before my ship out date.

I've always been intrigued by the Randall Made knives but never got to
spend good quality time with one. Of them all the 28 is the one that
intrigued me the most and now having laid hands on one I am incredibly
impressed by it. Quite comfortable to use and once a really nice edge
was on it performed quite well, and held that edge through some pretty
serious use. It came to me fairly sharp but not sharp like I like sharp.
It took some time to get what I wanted but once I got it I was
absolutely thrilled with the cutting prowess.

1 comment:

Thanks for the review. Always enjoy reading your blog posts. Never comment though, try and change that from now on. I would love a Randall in collection someday. I am still hoping to come upon one at a antique store or flea market for a steal.